PREFACE 



These Nurseries comprise "The Entire Collection of Fruits of the late William Prince," 

 and all pretences of others are false and fraudulent. Ttie Specimen Gnmnds are the only very extensive ones 

 on this Island, and contain above 2000 varieties of Fruits, and all Amateurs are invited to view them and 

 judge for themselves. 



This establishment was founded by William Prince, the grandfather of William R. Prince, the present 

 senior proprietor, and the entire lives of three successive generations have been devoted to its advancement. 

 It being but eight miles from the city of New- York, with a steamboat and stages making several trips daily 

 between the two places, it combines every advantage that would be possessed by city location ; and an office 

 is also established in the city to expedite its business. 



The Proprietors, in tendering to the public this new Descriptive Catalogue, (36th edition) desire to state that 

 they have an immense stock of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, &c., oi large size, and all of healthy and vigor- 

 ous growth. They also have trees of all the smaller sizes suitable for young Nurseries and for distant trans- 

 mission where transportation is expensive. The establishment contains at the present period inore than a mil- 

 lion of Trees and Plants, and the l^roprietors are willing to enter into liberal arrangements as to prices with 

 all such persons as desire large quantities of trees, &c., and to those proprietors of Nurseries who wish to ex- 

 tend their collections, and such other persons as may wish to establish new Nurseries, they will make liberal 

 discounts from the usual rates. But while on the one hand we ofier our productions at the lowest rates, we 

 insist on the payment (if not in cash,) being made perfectly sure to us by such draft, note, or reference, as is 

 undoubted. 



Orders less than ^10 are of no importance to us, but we will supply those of §5. All small orders must 

 have cash or an order for payment enclosed. As some persons are fearful of loss by mail, we will mention 

 that not $50 have been lost in 50 years of our business. 



Those who were in correspondence with the Esiablishment, from 1820 to 1836, will have perceived by their 

 written communications therewith during the last five years, that the active correspondent of that era has re- 

 sumed the helm and returned to his first love — the Vegetable Kingdom — and they will also perceive that lie is 

 animated with the same spirit and zeal in this pleasurable pursuit, which he formerly manifested. The decease 

 of his estimable parent, the late Wm. Prince, rendered tliis course indispensable, at the same time that feel- 

 ings of duty, inclination and interest tended to the same result. During the last years of the life of the late 

 Proprietor, he, from advanced age, found it indispensable to confide very much to the superintendents he 

 employed, but under the present Proprietors nothing is done except with their personal supervision, and all 

 correspondents may rely on the utmost precision, exactitude and liberality in the fulfilment of their 

 commands. 



In the arrangement of the present Catalogue, we have made free use of the knowledge and information we 

 possess as to the qualities of the respective fruits, and we have instituted such a discrimination as cannot fail 

 to be of immense importance to all cultivators who are solicitous of making judicious selections., 



In order that the benefits resulting from the present advanced stage of Pomological knowledge may be 

 generally diffused, the utmost pains have been taken to comprise in our Catalogues ample descriptions of the 

 respective varieties of Fruits, &c., and it will be perceived at a glance, that no similar publication has ever 

 appeared, that can bear any comparison in point of extent and accuracy with the present edition in this re- 

 spect. These descriptions have been mostly derived from -an inspection of the fruits in the extensive specimen 

 grounds of this establishment, and the young trees in the Nurseries connected therewith are propagated from 

 the same specimen trees from which tlie descriptions were made. The valuable Catalogue of the London 

 Horticultural Society, and the great works of Duhamel, Poiteau, &c., together with a chain of European cor- 

 respondents, has furnished collateral aid, and to our estimable friend, the late Robert Manning, and to his son, 

 R. Manning, Jr., to M. P. Wilder, Esq., the distinguished President, and the equally intelligent, S. Walker, 

 Esq., of the Mass. Hort. Society, Messrs. A. J. Downing, George Hoadley, N. Longworth, T. S. Humrickhouse, 

 J. F. Allen, J. W. Knevels, J. M. Ives, Wm. Kenrick, A. Lackey, S. C. Hildreth, and others, we are also 

 indebted for an exchange of information. 



Our Catalogues are always progressive, and the present one comprises all the new acquisitions made to the 

 various classes of Fruits and other departments. 



The persons who may chance to peruse this Catalogue, issued in our comparatively new country, may not be 

 fully aware that in no other country of the earth has a similar publication issued which could bt-ar any cora- 

 pari.son to this in its systematic details and accuracy. More tlian §20,000 have been expended by thi; late 

 Wm. Prince and ourselves in gratuitous publications, and above $iOOO within the last three years, and of the 

 34th edition 5000 copies were published, in which every Ornamental Tree and Shrub were described. 



The fruit trees are either grafted or inoculated, and are propagated from such European and American kinds 

 as have acquired a well merited celebrity, the whole collection of wliich has recently undergone a most care- 

 ful revision, and the selections have been made with great care and attention. Every precaution is taken 

 whicii is necessary to preserve the different varieties perfectly distinct, and all the trees are perfectly healthy. 

 Many persons are apt to purchase trees without regard to any point but their cheapness, and not unfrequently, 

 after the toil and expense of years, find them, when they arrive at bearing, absolutely worthless. Others who 

 regard the price only, pay no attention to the size and vigor of the trees, and consequently sacrifice many years 

 uselessly before their orchards come into bearing. The strongest proofs the Proprietors can give the public of 

 their anxiety to guard against misconception, are the precise descriptions contained in their published Treatises 

 and in their Descriptive Catalogues, by means of which every person, howevtr ignorant on the subject, can 

 make his selections judiciously, and also ascertain if he has been deceived. 



In regard to the identity of the various kinds of fruit, the proprietors do not pretend to a perfect infallibility, 

 but they do constantly aim at that point, and therefore if an inadvertent error occasionally arise, it is because 

 their unwearied scrutiny has not been able to guard against it, and they will promptly rectify it. 



We do claim, however, for our establishment the prerogative of superior accuracy, arising from our know- 

 ledge, skill and attention, and especially so in the Fruit Department, which is by far the most liable to error. It 

 is quite the vogue for some Proprietors of small l^urseries,atld sometimes for thoughtless individuals, actuated 

 by jealousy, or to cover their own ignorance, to decry the accuracy of the older and larger establishments, which 

 only serves to show that envy and malice are not entirely obliterated by the culture of Fruits and Flowers, 

 and also thai some people are silly enough to believe that a physician will poison his own patients. In most 

 cases it will be found that they have defrauded the person they calumniate, or that he has refused to trust 

 them. 



In reference to this point, we have to state that the great collection of American Fruits in the London Horti- 

 cultural Society's Garden was obtained from our Establishment, and they have sustained the ,test of twenty 



